Shildt Says: Offering Thoughts on Ryan Bergert, Gavin Sheets and Xander Bogaerts

Photo of Ryan Bergert at Petco Park

Prior to Thursday night’s series finale at Dodger Stadium, Padres manager Mike Shildt discussed three of the Padres’ more notable figures of the moment.

Shildt started with a discussion of Thursday night’s starting pitcher Ryan Bergert, who has a 2.33 earned run average thus far:

“Similar to (Stephen) Kolek and to a degree (Randy) Vásquez, who was with us last year, Ryan’s not making it bigger than it is,” Shildt began. “It’s a really nice trait. Obviously, he’s got support from (pitching coach Ruben) Niebla and the pitching staff, myself and his teammates. But Bergert gets all the credit.

“He goes out and executes his pitches. And that’s either good enough, or it’s not. More often than not, well-executed pitches give you a chance to compete very well and he’s done that. Him trying not to do too much is another way of saying don’t make things bigger than they are. ‘It’s my stuff.’ Most young players, regardless of level, understandably, want to dip their toe in the water and go ‘where do I fit?’

“And now, you’re at the highest level and the human component is still to do that. The separator here is to recognize to trust what you have. I know Bergert has been able to do that. David Morgan comes to mind in that area as well.

“Bergert’s done a good job against the better hitters. Your margin for error … even if you make a great pitch against guys who are on trajectories to be All-Stars and for the Hall of Fame … it’s more important that you get it where you need it to go to and let the defense work behind you.”

Photo of Gavin Sheets at Petco Park

Shildt then discussed Sheets, who is riding a career-best, nine-game hitting streak:

“It’s a combination of things with Gavin,” said Shildt. “It starts with his ability. I think there’s no question that he has that. He’s in a good lineup with quality people around him who help him. He’s been able to make whatever small adjustments need to be made at the big-league level to have that consistency.

“And I think beyond that, it’s about opportunity. Every night, there is opportunity out there. He’s earned more opportunity and he’s earned the right to face left-handers. There were a lot of questions about Sheets versus left-handers. Yeah, that’s fair. But I’ve seen good at-bats. I’ve seen the work, the ability to make adjustments. When you do that, every-day players hit righties and lefties and he’s an every-day player.”

Shildt finished with Bogaerts, who broke out of a slump with a double to the left-center gap Wednesday:

“It’s been perplexing,” said Shildt. “Look, I’m going to love and support our players. The thing about support … it’s interesting to me about the support that takes place when players are having success and how that can evaporate very quickly when they’re not having success. And that’s mostly from the outside. We get that. We signed up for performance and to win games. We’re not alibiing that at all.

“I’m always going to support guys when they are struggling because that’s what you do for people you care about. Now, specific to what you make of the struggle. One thing that’s a head scratcher, and I’ve talked to Xander about it and we’ve looked at it internally.

Photo of Xander Bogaerts at Dodger Stadium

“You look at almost every measurable since the day he became a Padre over the last three years — whether it’s chase rate, exit velocity, barrel rate, hard hits, all those things — he’s in as good a place as he’s been in multiple years. And so, you just chalk it up to baseball can be really, really hard and frustrating.

“Because it ultimately, with an exception or two, you can do everything right in the batter’s box and the hardest thing to do is hit a moving baseball, especially in 2025. And then not get the result when you hit it well. And then have to answer ‘what’s wrong with you?’

“Xander is human. Xander cares. I can’t answer how he feels. All I can tell you is this is a guy that has an exceptionally high care factor for his team. He’s had his personal accomplishments and still wants to have more. I mean, who doesn’t, right. But he’s won five Silver Sluggers. He has two World Series rings.

“He genuinely cares about the success of this team. He carries a lot of heaviness with him when it doesn’t go as well as he’d like. All you can do is support him and love on him.”